How many Chinook salmon need to be shared with endangered orca whales is the ultimate questions to be answered by government authorities. To get to the science, an independent, cross-border panel has recently completed the first of three workshops looking at studies connecting the abundance of chinook and the well-being of the rare killer whales. The panel has about three dozen studies and reports to analyze before a decision is made at the end of 2012. Experts examining killer whales' salmon diet

Brennan Clarke in The Globe and Mail reports on the changes Rob Saunders, CEO of Island Scallops in Baynes Sound, is experiencing with his shellfish larvae. “Because of ocean acidification the only way we can grow any larvae – oysters, clams, mussels, geoducks, you name it – is to take the CO2 out of the seawater,” he says. An acidic ocean threatens shellfish farms
End of argument? Probably not. Richard Muller, prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming, was bankrolled by oil and gas-funded Koch Foundation but found that temperatures really are rising rapidly. Skeptic finds he now agrees global warming is real

When the military sells surplus land around Greater Victoria, make environmental protection of endangered ecosystems on these Department of National Defence lands the first priority. Conservationists fearful of DND land sale

“Whatcom County, the Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were quick to offer reassurances that they plan to conduct an open and transparent environmental review of the Gateway Pacific Terminal project, despite language in a three-agency agreement that seems to indicate otherwise.” John Stark in the Bellingham Herald reports: Agencies say they plan an open review of cargo shipping terminal

Hopes of ripping through Rich Passage without tearing up the beach is what’s to be tested this week when Kitsap Transit’s wake research project begins its sea test in Port Orchard Bay, between Illahee and Bainbridge Island. Research ferry wake tests beginning

Railroad story: Residents may be concerned about whether Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad’s tree cutting along its right of way in Everett will de-stabilize the slope but there’s nothing the city can do about it. According to city attorney Jim Iles, an interstate commerce clause allows BNSF to monitor and care for property around the tracks. Anyway, “They aren’t always easy to get a hold of or deal with,” he said. Why the city can’t stop the railroad from cutting down trees

Good news: Bellingham Bay’s Little Squalicum Park is open after initial cleanup work was completed at two toxic sites at the park and Little Squalicum Creek was rerouted into its historic channel. Initial cleanup complete at Little Squalicum Park

More good news: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that removing toxins from paper mill wastewater has made a difference. Bald eagle eggs collected last year have dramatically lower levels of the contaminant dioxin than they did 15 years ago. Bald Eagle Eggs Show Dioxin Regulations Working

What’s government for, anyway? The Burien City Council wants to let shoreline property owners unhappy with the Department of Ecology’s shoreline master program requirements meet directly with Ecology officials to work differences out. Mayor Joan McGilton doesn’t think so: “McGilton said it’s not reasonable when talking about the health of the entire Puget Sound to allow requirement exceptions for Burien.” Burien property owners may negotiate with Ecology department on shoreline plan

And, for your weekend pondering: Science Daily reports that the mere presence of a predator causes enough stress to kill a dragonfly, even when the predator cannot actually get at its prey to eat it, say biologists at the University of Toronto. Insects Are Scared to Death of Fish

As reported by the Associated Press, SeaDoc Society this year “counted 113 species that are listed as threatened or endangered, or are candidates for listing in either the U.S. or Canada — compared with 64 species in 2008. The snowy owl, cackling goose, Pacific sardine and surf smelt are among 49 species that use the Salish Sea that have recently been flagged for special conservation attention, whether by the Canadian province, Washington state, or the U.S. or Canadian governments.” Study: more species in Wash., B.C. need protection

PETA is reported to be suing SeaWorld San Diego and Orlando for holding five performing killer whales in violation of the Constitution's ban on slavery and wants them returned to their natural habitat, like the Salish Sea. Lawsuit to be filed alleging orca ‘slavery'

Seattle’s second draft of its revised shoreline master program includes recommendation to limit the number of houseboats and to increase building setbacks from 25 to 35 feet. The update revises rules for all of Seattle’s shorelines including Lake Union/Ship Canal, the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Green Lake and the Duwamish River. Shoreline plan recommends added setbacks, more access

C.B. Hall in today’s Crosscut examines how “A recent disruption in ferry service to the San Juan Islands illuminated just how close Washington's ferry system is to the edge. Can a new government task force resuscitate the struggling system?” The fragile state of Washington's ferries

Check out Migael Scherer’s blog in Three Sheets Northwest about Dockton, which “was once a busy shipyard, with the first dry dock in Puget Sound large enough for sailing schooners.” In Migael’s Wake|Dockton County Park

Guess who else is rightfully worried about the threat of a BC sockeye virus? It threatens BC’s fish farming industry which has annual sales of $250 million and employs about 3,000 souls. Lethal virus found in B.C. sockeye ‘threat’ to producers
Bellingham mayoral candidate Kelli Linville now joins incumbent mayor Dan Pike in opposing the coal export facility proposed for Cherry Point. In the race for the open county executive seat, candidate Doug Ericksen is an outspoken supporter of the terminal, while candidate Jack Louws is uncommitted. Coal fight takes lead role in Bellingham, Whatcom elections

What’s on your calendar Nov. 5? You’re invited to “Sound Living: Exploring the Connections Between Water, Land and People," a “communiversity” at Everett Community College featuring more than 40 local experts who will speak on topics such as salmon, sea birds, harbor seals, endangered whales, fisheries restoration, algae blooms and contaminants in Snohomish County waters. Take a day to protect Puget Sound area at Everett event

Just business, thank you: From the Associated Press, “BP PLC reported Tuesday that third-quarter profits more than doubled thanks to higher oil prices, with the chief executive saying the results marked a turnaround from the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.... For the three months ending Sept. 30, BP had a net profit of $4.9 billion, compared with $1.8 billion a year earlier.” BP sees Q3 profit rise, to sell off more assets

Rabbits’ Guy continues the discussion on the blog “What Is A ‘Constituency’ For Puget Sound” with the suggestion, “Looking at the new PSP "Wheel" of indicators might give a start for a campaign that picks out and sticks to just a very few easily related-to ideas ... and then continues a steady drumbeat via many channels.” Read here.

The last three Puget Sound Partnership recovery targets— those dealing with land use-- were adopted Friday. As reported in the Kitsap Sun, Partnership executive director Gerry O’Keefe said, “We know where we are going and what Puget Sound recovery looks like in 2020. Partnership establishes targets on land use to help Puget Sound
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency says the Partnership mishandled grant money due to a “fundamental systemic weakness” in its internal controls and wants $120,000 in grants returned. EPA Yanks Puget Sound Partnership Funds

Great minds thinking alike: Rod Brown and Scott Wyatt in a Seattle Times guest editorial argue that state lawmakers who screw with the Northwest's long-standing environmental assets and values screw businesses and qualified workers. Dire economy should not betray Northwest's environmental values Paul Krugman in the NY Times says we’re finally talking about jobs and the GOP jobs plan is to allow more pollution. Party of Pollution

Up north, activist-scientist Alexandra Morton has succeeded in getting the courts and the Canadian government to hold farmed salmon producer Marine Harvest accountable for the unintended capture of wild salmon and herring at two of its northern Vancouver Island facilities. Salmon firm to admit breach of bycatch law
Consistently rebuffed in the courts, the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review its lawsuit over Kitsap County shoreline regulations. KAPO attorneys seek review of case by US Supreme Court

In the Skagit, agriculture interests now want the county to join the state’s Voluntary Stewardship program that would use incentives rather than regulations to protect critical habitat. Deadline nears for new habitat protections

Washington’s own Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Pasco) chairs the House Natural Resources Committee and thinks that the Border Patrol "has become encumbered with layers of environmental regulations.” His solution, along with his GOP committee members, is to exempt the Border Patrol from 36 environmental laws on federal lands in a 100-mile zone along the Canadian and Mexican borders. GOP wants Homeland Security exempt from environmental laws along borders

Public comment on the Washington Fish and Wildlife 2012-13 fishing regulations will be limited this year to staff recommendation due to funding cuts and staff layoffs. Angler suggestions won't be heard this time
Congratulations to Port Angeles: its Waterfront & Transportation Improvement Plan got an outstanding achievement award from the American Planning Association and the Planning Association of Washington. Port Angeles waterfront plan receives award
It’s a mouthful but the Great Kitsap Forest & Bay Project (GKFBP), a large consortium of community and business groups, has been formed to engage, educate and create enthusiasm for the effort to conserve 7,000 acres of forest land and two miles of shoreline along Port Gamble Bay. Community group aims to help proposed conservation effort succeed

‘strix27’ thoughtfully comments on the blog “What Is A ‘Constituency’ For Puget Sound” by concluding: “People respond to personal and economic benefit arguments and to a lesser extent to general aesthetic arguments. Thus far, it seems as if our efforts to clean up Puget Sound have been top-down (governmental decrees), inward-looking (environmental groups of the converted) and bureaucratic (Puget Sound Partnership.) None of those approaches resonate with people worried about their jobs and traffic conditions. We need a better defined goal, a better message and a more efficient way to achieve the goal.”

National Geographic discovers the Cherry Point coal export issue. What’s wrong here?-- “Energy is ‘a sector of the economy where we're used to being takers and not givers,’ says Vic Svec, senior vice president for investor relations at Peabody Energy, the world's largest private sector coal company, which is seeking to be a major exporter here. ‘Coal is an area where the United States has abundant resources, and we can improve our trade balance by exporting a component of that.’ Hint to an answer: selling coal to China is selling them cheap energy which allows China to keep production costs low and allows them to continue outcompeting us in manufacturing— and jobs. Seeking a Pacific Northwest Gateway for U.S. Coal

Pacific Seafood of Oregon proposes to grow 10 million pounds a year of steelhead and Atlantic salmon in cages in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, nearly doubling the farmed fish grown in saltwater in Washington. Plan for giant fish farm in Strait roils the waters Pacific Seafood might want to read the Grist blog by Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish, on How to fix fish farms

Because we like to say “Humptulips”-- State Fish and Wildlife Director Phil Anderson met with fishermen, guides and citizens to discuss budget cuts affecting the state’s salmon hatchery program. “What we're trying to do is get together a group of volunteers that are interested in trying to minimize the impacts in the reductions that we have to make relative to our revenue at Humptulips Hatchery." Humptulips Hatchery Needs Help

Because we like to say “eulachon”-- That’s the name for Pacific smelt whose habitats in creeks, rivers and estuaries associated with the Klamath, Columbia and Umpqua rivers are now designated as critical smelt habitat by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pacific Smelt Receive Critical Habitat Designation

Bang the pots slowly when a drumming ceremony takes place this Saturday in West Seattle when the public is invited to take part calling the coho salmon back to Fauntleroy Creek (bring your own drum, or pot and spoon, organizers urge).Beat the drum for homecoming salmon

It’s been done in Olympia and should be done in every city and town in the Salish Sea: Greg Hanscomb blogs about New York City artist Eve Moshe bringing climate change home by mapping coming floods and using chalk to draw the boundaries on the actual cityscape. Underwater homes: A visual guide to NYC’s future floods

And, because we like the bright and shiny, from Science Daily: “It has long been known that distinctive blue flashes--a type of bioluminescence--that are visible at night in some marine environments are caused by tiny, unicellular plankton known as dinoflagellates. However, a new study has, for the first time, detailed the potential mechanism for this bioluminesence. Proposed bioluminescence mechanism: When a dinoflagellate is mechanically agitated, an electrical impulse travels around its vacuole membrane. This impulse opens up proton channels that allow protons to flow from the vacuole into the scintillons, where they activate light-emitting luciferase proteins. The result: A flash of light.Bioluminescence: Explanation for Glowing Seas Suggested

State environmental regulators released draft rules Wednesday that spell out exactly how governments should incorporate the strategies to control polluted runoff that can harm fish and water quality. Those of us who care about reducing the amount of runoff pollution going into Puget Sound and restoring the Sound to health consider the draft rules inadequate. Tell ‘em that in the review process. Wash. rules to spell out strategies to curb runoff

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking public comment on new fishing rules for next year at its web site through December 30. Among the proposed rules are closing winter steelhead fishing early in many Puget Sound rivers and preventing anglers from keeping sturgeon in the Sound and its tributaries. Proposed new rules for steelhead, sturgeon in Washington

Got $70 million? That’s an estimated price for protecting 7,000 acres of forestland in North Kitsap. Olympic Property Group and Cascade Land Conservancy now have an option agreement for sale of the property, and Cascade Land Conservancy has 18 months to work out the finances. North Kitsap forestland deal could protect 7,000 acres

And from the other great waters: Clare Leschin-Hoar blogs that menhaden is a tiny fish considered “the most important in the sea.” However, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission now has fixed a technical error in how they have been measuring the stock’s health and has concluded that the fish have been overfished for more than half of the fishing seasons for the last 54 years. Good menhaden are hard to find

Off New Zealand, salvage crews face bad weather that stymie efforts to pump oil off the stricken cargo ship. Rena's position 'very precarious' Locally, we had three oil spills in Puget Sound and the Partnership is convening environmentalists, government officials, citizens and tribal leaders to evaluate oil spill risks and make suggestions on how to reduce them to Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature. Group to analyze how to reduce oil spills in Puget Sound

"This is potentially very big. It's of big concern to us," said John Kerwin, who supervises the fish health unit at the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife. "It's a disease emergency," said James Winton, who directs the fish health section of the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Fisheries Research Center in Seattle. Deadly salmon virus raises concerns in Washington, BC More: Ashley Ahearn of EarthFix talks to David Montgomery, author of King of Fish about Sick Wild Salmon

I love ‘Iris’ who posted: “I’m getting ready for the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, at which I’m presenting a poster titled “The Potential Importance of Competition Between Juvenile Chinook Salmon and Herring in Puget Sound”. It’s a long title, I know. Anyway, making posters is actually kind of fun for me. It’s like designing a flowchart of your project, but with more detail and pictures. And this poster has been more fun than others I have made, mainly because I have SHINY TOYS to use! Making Pretty Graphs and Posters

Residents near Bristol Bay have voted to block the Pebble Mine which is proposed next to one of the world’s most productive salmon fisheries. The mine would be an open-pit operation to extract gold and copper. The vote was close, and mine developers have challenged the local initiative in court. Alaska's attorney general has called it "unenforceable." Bristol Bay votes to block Pebble Mine operation

Read the news release on the Cascadia Green Building Council’s report examining and comparing wastewater management practices in urban areas. “Using a mid-sized city in the Puget Sound region as a case study, Cascadia, measured a broad spectrum of environmental impacts associated with large scale, centralized sewage conveyance and treatment systems and compared them against smaller, decentralized alternatives.” Then read the report. Report on the Environmental Impacts of Wastewater Treatment Strategies

Ed Friedrich in the Kitsap Sun reports on the details of changes in Washington State Ferry ridership. The study is part of the ferry system designing a new reservation system and a simpler fare structure to go with it. It must also handle time-of-day pricing and mesh with other transit payment systems. Washington State Ferries study find fewer frequent riders in past decade

Interesting story in Grist about Jon Bird, his work trying to get people to change their behavior using “nudge” theory, and experiments carried out on Bainbridge Island. "There's a difference between awareness and behavior," Bird says. "We've got the awareness, but haven't quite got the motivation ... Why is it that gyms have more membership than capacity? Most people don't go. That's human beings." Change hurts: Influencing behavior is a messy business

Department of Clean Enough To Drink: All the sites where the LOTT Clean Water Alliance plans to discharge highly treated wastewater into the ground are sites with well-drained soils that are places where the wastewater could contaminate groundwater. Regulations block LOTT plant plans

Did you know that the National Recreation and Park Association Standard for Park Land are 34.45 Acres of land per 1,000 people? And that even after Saturday’s dedication of Leech Creek Park in Pierce County’s University Park, the city is about 90 percent short of this having only 3.63 acres/1,000 population — the lowest percentage per population for parkland of any city in the South Puget Sound area! But congratulations to the folks who made the new park possible. Leech Creek Park Will Be Dedicated This Saturday

Nothing to brag about: Randy Shore in the Vancouver Sun reports that infectious salmon anemia has been found in B.C.’s Rivers Inlet. It is a flu-like virus never found before in the North Pacific. It affecting Atlantic salmon and spreads very quickly and mutates easily. It’s effect on wild sockeye isn’t known. Wild B.C. salmon test positive for 'lethal' virus linked to fish farms

Oil Train: Whitney Pipkin in the Skagit Valley Herald reports on Tesoro Refinery’s proposal to build additional railways and spurs for crude oil deliveries in Anacortes. “The project is part of the refinery’s decision to increase the amount of product it receives from a North Dakota shale deposit from 2,000 barrels per day to 30,000 barrels per day, reducing its reliance on other sources.” Public comment deadline is Oct. 21. Tesoro rail project headed for approval

As a young man, Mike Gage worked for logging companies and thought nothing of driving through salmon streams to get to trees on the other side. “In those days, we could see no end to the old growth forest, just as we could see no end to the fish. We were wrong.” He is 71 now and leads the Campbell River Salmon Foundation in restoring habitat. Mark Hume paints a great story in Fish get a helping hand to spawn

There are three miles of shorelines along Woodland Creek and Puget Sound under city of Lacey jurisdiction. Now, the shoreline program that governs future development and preservation is in place. Congratulations. Ecology approves Lacey’s shoreline program update

Thanks to Paige for passing on Robert Woolsey’s KCAW story from Sitka about Will Swagel’s fishy parody of “The Night Before Christmas.” Take a listen to “The Bight Before Christmas” ‘Twas the night before Christmas, throughout Sitka Sound. / Not a creature stirred anywhere on the fish grounds. / The hoochies were hung in the wheelhouse with care… Author's Christmas "Bight" featured in Pacific Fishing

Thanks, Josh, for sending on Ben Coxworth’s fascinating story in GizMag about macrocyclic lactones, molecules created by certain types of bacteria, which when added to a regular anti-fouling coating and applied to a boat’s hull keeps barnacles from attaching. There’s a pretty dramatic picture with the news article. Bacterial byproduct keeps barnacles from clinging to ships' hulls

And the really big one, as reported by the Associated Press: “Salvage crews have resumed pumping oil from a stricken cargo ship teetering on a reef off the New Zealand coast a week after abandoning an earlier attempt due to bad weather. But the condition of the vessel Rena is precarious, and more bad weather predicted for Monday night could hamper or even end salvage attempts. The ship has major structural cracks and experts say it could break apart or slip from the reef at any time.” Work resumes to pump oil from listing New Zealand ship

No eat: Possible paralytic shellfish poisoning may result from consuming mussels harvested from the Okever inlet near Powell River by Aquatec Seafoods Ltd. and Taylor Shellfish Canada (which does business as Fanny Bay Oysters) between Oct. 2 and 14. Contamination warning issued for B.C. mussels

Congratulations to Capitol Land Trust and volunteers at Saturday’s Eld Inlet restoration work day who planted slough sedge, red alder, salmonberry, and other trees and plants. Olympia watershed workers unite

Hooray for Georgia Strait Alliance and our Canadian neighbors for moving forward in making the Southern Strait of Georgia a national marine conservation area protecting 1,400 square kilometres of the Salish Sea! Now, how about the State of Washington, its treaty tribes and the U.S. Government stepping up on our side of the border? Strait of Georgia to get government protection

Thurston County Board of Health has stopped allowing repair, expansion or installation of on-site septic systems in two Lacey subdivisions until the areas are hooked up to a sewer system in 2014 to correct pollution of groundwater, Woodland Creek and Henderson Inlet. Septic ban in 2 neighborhoods

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Something’s happening here, what it is, it ain’t very clear— but we’ll find out soon enough: “The Honourable Peter Kent Canada’s Environment Minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada and The Honourable Terry Lake Minister of the Environment for British Columbia invite you to an important announcement regarding THE PROTECTION OF SOUTHERN STRAIT OF GEORGIA. The event will take place on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre 9811, Seaport Place Sidney, BC.”

If you like to watch: Susan Berta at Orca Network alerts us to a new video The Orca Project has released that reveals the differences between life for killer whale families in the wild and in captivity. “A Better Way to See Orcas”

Our Lady of the North reminded me that tiny are important as well: “The rare Nooksack dace is found only in four streams in Canada, all in the Fraser Valley, and its habitat is dwindling,” writes Mark Hume in The Globe and Mail and may soon be found only in two watersheds. Future of tiny fish caught in web of politics

And to the big: France’s Rhone River has invasive swarms of 25- to 140-pound Wels catfish pooping and peeing and creating nutrient-rich “hotspots” that may be the largest ever recorded in freshwater. Colossal Catfish!Small boat story: Barbara Bach in Three Sheets Northwest writes about the attraction of small boats and the upcoming love fest. Small Boats Saturday at Cama Beach
Go Adventuress: Sound Experience has raised $37,281 towards their goal of $52,000 by asking donors to kick in $29 in their 29-day campaign which ends Oct 22. Fundraiser has schooner Adventuress sailing toward $52,000 goal

More than a big boat story: You have to read this blog by Arlene Plevin. The Yellow Coat

After being rebuffed by the Washington State Court of Appeals and the Washington State Supreme Court on the issue of shoreline buffers that protect Puget Sound, Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners are now appealing to the U.S Supreme Court. Kitsap property rights group seeks higher court review

Dave Meyer at KPLU-FM dives deep on the subject of Seattle’s plan to remedy the spilling of about 190 million gallons of sewage into Puget Sound during heavy rainfall times. Keeping sewage out of Puget Sound Knute Berger at Crosscut climbs down with artist Stokely Towles into the bowels of Seattle. Seattle's real underground tour

What’s on your dinner plate? The state’s estimate of how much fish and shellfish is consumed isn’t accurate and the Ecology Department is undertaking a process to update that amount in order to develop better standards for the amount of toxic pollutants allowed in our waters and sediments. State officials to update fish consumption rate

Guns and the environment came together when Kitsap County testified in court that the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club violated environmental regulations when it filled wetlands in upgrading its gun range on Seabeck Highway. When bulldozers are outlawed, only outlaws will have bulldozers. Gun club case turns to environmental issues

The Capitol Land Trust and the LOTT (Lacey Olympia Thurston Tumwater) Clean Water Alliance tonight will be asking the LOTT board to contribute $260,000 towards purchasing a 60-acre parcel of wetlands and forests on the peninsula between Budd and Henderson inlets. John Dodge in The Olympian reports: LOTT is asked to help buy land

About Me

Salish Sea Communications provides communications and public relations services that raise visibility and engage audiences. Drawing on over 30 years experience in private, public and not-for-profit work, Mike Sato brings to you his skills and insights in developing and carrying out your print, electronic and social media projects and products. "I've been in the communications business since 1977 starting with community weekly newspapers then working for Seattle City Light, the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Hawaiian Electric Company and, for 20 years, People For Puget Sound." Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told. WA State UBI #601395482